You have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired.

You have to understand that we know that we will never not feel tired. We will never feel hopeful. We will never get a vacation. Ever. We know that the very act of being poor guarantees that we will never not be poor. It doesn't give us much reason to improve ourselves. Linda Tirado

“At times it’s like, I know I got this midterm, but damn…my feet cold, my stomach growlin’, my hands cold. No gas in my vehicle, and I still gotta study for this midterm…so it got to the point…to hell with that midterm.” -Oscar

“I know some people who go to [nearby colleges and universities] that live under the bridges along the river and they’ll get up at 5:30 in the morning they’ll take the bus and they’ll wait for the gym to open so they can take a shower. They’ll change and they’ll eat at a soup kitchen downtown then uh they just work their system and they don’t look homeless. “ -Adam

“It’s HARD, people don’t understand it’s HARD to sit in the dead of the winter …you can’t run your car for the heat because you don’t have enough gas so you in there studying like this (mimicking holding a book and shivering)…[can’t] get your work done and that’s hard. Because it is hard to stay focused.” -Oscar

“[I go to school] to know that I’ll be done with my education and to get a better job. To better myself for my kids. And their future. That was the whole reason I started to go to school, to better their future…cuz I want them all to go to college as well so that they could be something other than a grocery store clerk or workin’ at Burger King or McDonalds. Cuz my kids are very smart and I know I am too. -Maria

“So I came in [to a building on campus] and got warm my feet was …freezing and I ran across this guy who works here, and he saw me and he was like “Man, you should try to get into school” I say “Man I don’t give a shit about school”. I in here tryin’ to be warm. So I opened up to him that day because I needed somebody I could talk to at this point. So you know we got to talking and he convinced me I finally enrolled in school.” -Oscar

Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain. Whatever happens in a month is probably going to be just about as indifferent as whatever happened today or last week. None of it matters. We don't plan long-term because if we do we'll just get our hearts broken. It's best not to hope. You just take what you can get as you spot it. This is what our lives are like, and here are our defense mechanisms, and here is why we think differently. It's certainly self-defeating, but it's safer. -Linda Tirado

“No one knew [that I was homeless], because I carried myself like I wasn’t…but I was out there.” -Oscar

I make a lot of poor financial decisions. None of them matter, in the long term. I will never not be poor, so what does it matter if I don't pay a thing and a half this week instead of just one thing? It's not like the sacrifice will result in improved circumstances; the thing holding me back isn't that I blow five bucks at Wendy's. It's that now that I have proven that I am a Poor Person that is all that I am or ever will be. Linda Tirado